Recent Locker Room Comments by holden

The Member Formerly Known as Terrapin

So, wait, we've added as a moderator some dude who advocated sheep f^&*ing as an Olympic sport? Or am I the only one who uses "shearing" that way? I must confess I did not read the post (or while away 20 minutes watching YouTube videos of Aussie and Kiwi shearmasters strut their stuff).

Cricket Question

Thanks, Mr. B. I suspected from the context that this was the case (in terms of the wicket referring to the pitch or the portion of the pitch around the batsman). A little confusing to those without much cricket knowledge, in that wicket refers to a tangible physical object, a portion of real estate, and something that is "taken."

Cricket Question

Can someone explain to me the use of "wicket" that I have bolded in the following text from this article?:

He admitted that India had misjudged the wicket, but felt their safety-first strategy meant they had got away with it. "The wicket got slower as the game progressed, that's why the new-ball game was very different. After losing two wickets, what was important was to bat 50 overs. In big games you shouldn't always look to score 300 runs. You see the wicket is behaving in a different way and readjust your target."

Is he referring to the pitch? If so, is that a common usage or a south Asian thing?

Kidding aside (although, as my mother always says after I "jokingly" call her a know-nothing mouth-breather, there is truth in all sarcasm), I cast my lot with those who wish to retain the Locker Room in current form. Basically, put me down for the Spitztengle view.

I'm not sopretty sure that Lester will be anything other than a league averagea Cy Young contending, or strong number two (at worst), pitcher going forward . . . and that he may not even be better than Anibal Sanchez will probably struggle with injuries and not have half the stuff or success of Lester.

And oh yes, I am obviously not a scout.

Favorite moment on SportsFilter probably had to be to the vulgar front page post dealing with figure skater Arakawa in the last Winter Games. The SpoFi equivalent of Funkhouser's joke in the penultimate episode of this last season of Curb Your Enthusiasm in terms of unexpectedness and content.

SportsFilter Turns 8

New posts on all the hot sports-related topics of the day were not available to her from June 10, 1991 until Aug. 31 of this year.

She never saw a Barry Bonds thread get derailed. Never got to vie for the Costanza in a fantasy league. Probably hasn't LOLLERSKATED in a while.

She was not allowed to call Weedy a moron. Or act out in mock outrage over the steroid brouhaha with "what about the children" handwringing. Or offend someone with coarse language. Or wonder what the hell some fella from Australia was doing (virtually) hanging out with all these crass Americans and Canadians without them ever busting out a "You All Live in a Convict Colony" singalong.

Greatest Teams Of All Time?

Interesting exercise. There are some limitations to this, off course, in that the HOF, AS, SC and AW metrics effectively limit the pool of possibly contending teamsup until, say, the early 90's (or even later) to Canadian and American teams (but let's be real, Canadian teams, although at least the American teams get a fair shake by having access to the NHL during that pre-90's period). Would any of the Red Army teams have stacked up? Probably not, but we'll never really know, just like we will never be able to say whether any pre-integration baseball team was the "greatest" ever. Greatest North American team of all time? Sure.

Hooking Delicious and Twitter to the Huddle

Champions League Final predictions and chat

I agree with bill -- I want Barca to win, but see them having trouble doing so without three of their top four defenders. In addition to the issues that creates for defending, Barca really relies on Alves getting forward to put pressure on opposing defenses, so his loss is two-prong (although he has no one but himself to blame for missing the final, as I could tell in the first 5 minutes of the Chelsea game that he would be getting a card).

Happy Birthday to Us

SportsFilter Under Development

While we're in the future, somebody jot down the next 1,376 Super Bowl winners.

I forgot to check on the Super Bowl winners, but I can tell you I was not surprised to find out that in the Year 2746, rcade's great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great grandson was arrested by the Intergalactic Inquisition for unspecified violations of Quandax Rule 708-b-iii (Unauthorized Use of Teleportation for Purposes of Calling into Disrepute, or Ridiculing, the Star Pope).

Arguing Politics During My Vasectomy

Dude, you were at a PLANNED PARENTHOOD! Worrying that the doctor giving you the old snip at Planned Parenthood does not share your left-leaning political views is like going into a kosher deli and being worried that they will put cheese on your pastrami sandwich or wading into a SportsFilter Barry Bonds thread and being concerned you might be blindsided by some well reasoned thoughts and cogent analysis.

Why do you support who you do?

Baseball: I was born in Louisiana and grew up in a home where my father (born and raised abroad but a Louisianian) was more a fan of the game than a fan of a team, so I became the same. I spent my formative years (mid-primary school through high school) in Michigan, and enjoyed the Tigers but was never a huge fan. When I met and later married a gal from St. Louis and ended up attending 8-10 Cardinals games a year, I became a Cardinals fan. It's a hard franchise not to like -- great history, great fans, a great run of success in the years I've known my wife (1995 to present), and a chance to regularly see one of the greatest right handed hitters of all time ply his trade.

College Sports: Both my folks went to LSU and now live a mile or so from the campus and have football tickets. I went to a D-III school for college and a I-AA school for grad school, so it's kind of an easy choice.

Football/Soccer: When I was a student in London on a semester abroad in 1996, I found an old Holsten-sponsor Spurs shirt at a thrift shop. So I became a Spurs fan. I always liked Teddy Sheringham as well and, while he was just past his prime at that time, he was still a productive and entertaining player.

Football: Saints just because of the Louisiana connection, but this was a very difficult team to follow in my youth in Michigan because they were never on TV. During that time I was probably more of a Cowboys fan from having spent a few years living in Dallas before the move to Michigan.

Hockey: Wings from my youth in Michigan. I was not saddled with baggage of a prior hockey affiliation, with my family being from the (pre-NHL expansion) south. Perhaps could be viewed as a bit of a bandwagon-jumping type of thing, but I got in to them when they were coming out of the dark days of the 80s and just starting the ascent to being a dominant team.

I needed to make this link dump, for this video I found that was not enough for a FPP. However, I needed to posted it!

MLB Opening Day Predictions

I suppose we should rock the DL pool, dontchya think? I'll post something to the LR later today. And dyams -- totally agreed on the ridiculousness of the ROY eligibility, particularly as it applies to professionals from non-US leagues.

Sportsfilter Siting:

lawn_wrangler also was mentioned in one the original World Cup podcasts that begat the regular football podcast -- he requested that they (the podders) continue on post-WC into the Premier League season. So I guess we have him to thank for that. Oh, and he also washes Barry Glendenning's car on the weekends, so that doesn't hurt his shout-out potential. If it was not for the fact that he is married to my wife's sister, I would kill him out of jealousy.

Best All-Time Baseball Broadcaster?

I love Vin Scully. MLB's Extra Innings is worth it for me just to get a handful of Scully-called games on Fox Prime Ticket. Here's a transcript of his call of Koufax's perfect game. And here is the audio. (Previously posted in this thread.)

Is anyone else following the hearings today?

Watching a very brief bit of this really caused me to lose what little remaining faith I have in our Congress. I'm willing to entertain that it is within Congress' power to hold hearings on this type of stuff (although I think the founders would be rolling over in their graves), but to exercise that power in this manner is just sickening to me. My congressman is on this committee and I specifically voted against him last Tuesday because of this crap. And I knew nothing about his opponent, who could torture puppies and be a KKK member, for all I know. Single issue voting rocks. (BTW, the incumbent won with about 90%.)

Homer Jersey Swap?

Happy Iron Anniversary, Sportsfilter.

I'm about two weeks out from my own 6 year anniversary. Between yerfatma and jerseygirl [insert dirty joke here]. I'd be curious to know how folks came to Sportsfilter. I know for many of the single and double digit types (and the low triple digit types), it was through Metafilter. I came to it through this interview of Oliver Willis by Tony Pierce. I actually didn't know Metafilter existed until maybe a year into Sportsfilter.

Calling All Rookies

This site also opened me up to soccer so now at my job (where I am the only white boy and everyone else is either Dominican or El Salvadorian) I can keep and make somewhat intelligent comments on the game. For those potentially interested in watching the Africa Cup of Nations on the job, it's online here starting Sunday. goddam -- I want a mug that says "Soccer: Not a Sport."

Guidelines update request

Would you know the right thing if you saw it?

Good for Kyle Turley and especially so considering that he (presumably) is not a player with a lot of secondary income from endorsements and the like, meaning this is probably more of a sacrifice for him than it might be for certain others.

Would you know the right thing if you saw it?

Here's a write-up from the Senate hearing. For what it's worth, looks like Upshaw did make it to that one. I thought I had read additional hearings (perhaps House) were being called for, but who knows.

Would you know the right thing if you saw it?

I don't know that voting with one's dollars are the only solution. I think a more successful approach might be some sort of PR offensive with the hopes of getting congressional hearings. If they could get congressional hearings for steroids in baseball, why not do it with this? Some might argue it would still be a waste of government resources, but better than the steroids thing in my mind. Get some congressmen and congresswomen to wag fingers ("For shame!!!"), make Upshaw and his consort and Goodell et al really uncomfortable, promise to have the FCC look into whether the Sunday ticket arrangement with DirecTV is anticompetitive, threaten to revisit the NFL's antitrust exemption, etc. and see what kind of leverage the Washington-types can bring to bear. Bullying and an invitation to grandstanding? For sure. But for a better cause than getting to the bottom of whether the assault on the MLB record books is tainted.

The official line on the review of the FG was that the officials huddled and talked it over and it was not a "booth review" -- but who knows whether they got word from upstairs that they needed to reverse it. Either way, they should change the rule to permit these things to be reviewed -- what if none of the officials had seen it go through? I have updated my profile so as to include an email address for future communications about my quittingness. Sorry, jg, but thanks for the concern.

Cavs vs Celtics, now with added JJ

Any advice as to how to behave also greatfully received. Is the crowd segregated? Do I need to tone down my Irish accent to avoid being ripped to pieces by the Cavs fans if I find myself in amongst them? Will there even be any Celtics fans there? It seems odd that having watched and followed American sports for so long, this is the first time I will ever have attended a game of any description. That said, I've been a Liverpool fan for years, but I've never been to a Premiership match (of theirs or anyone else's). JJ -- with the exception of American football (and really only college football, at that), there is not much of a concept in American sports of a separate supporters section for traveling fans of the opposition. That's not to say that there won't be some Celtics fans in attendance at Cleveland -- depending on the opposition, there are typically fans of the opposing team in the home team's city and some opposition fans travel (although this is most common in American football and in cases where the teams' cities are close together). Even if you are supporting the Celtics in the midst of Cleveland fans, I doubt anyone would give you any grief about it. Should be a good match-up -- one of the league's best players against the best team thus far this year.

Sorry, joke. And I wasn't aiming for this thread, which does have a nice "spy on your own funeral aspect to it." I probably shouldn't poke fun of the spate of high profile withdrawals hereabouts, but it was just too delicious, particularly when it was a member of the ever-powerful Red Sox mafia coming after me!!!! Carry on, then. And how about England possibly backing their way into the Euro championships by virtue of Israel's win today, huh?

Presented without comment,

On the whole Yankees-Red Sox thing, I tend to think SportsFilter is just a reflection of sports coverage in general. Should we aspire to be something more than ESPN in terms of the breadth and depth of subjects covered? Absolutely, but it's not like this is some sort of unrepresentative echo chamber that is an outlier in terms of coverage of certain popular topics. I guess my response is that we all have the ability to influence how the front page looks -- it's incumbent on those who have issues with the quality or subject matter of some of the FPPs to keep an eye out for interesting stories and subjects and post their own FPPs that go beyond the easy, the knee-jerk and the sensational.

Presented without comment,

So does the beware-the-toe-stepping apply just to Yankee team/player stories or... Is it possible to "know" what's going to piss members off all the time? I think in general, just don't overplay the same story or related stories on consecutive days or in the same week with multiple posts. The two examples I can think of when this occurred in recent history were Yankee-related (A-Rod opts out/A-Rod is a weasel and Yankees early exit/Suzyn Waldman cries), but I think that's just coincidental. I think the same exercise of discretion should apply where the subject in question is the Lakers, Barry Bonds, the Red Sox, etc. Other than that "no piling on" principle, I don't think we need an absolute prohibition of posting on certain topics, but I do think that posting something to the front page should be done thoughtfully and with some discretion.

Presented without comment,

Scrolling through the current front page, I don't see SportsFilter becoming the Entertainment Tonight of sports sites. Yes, the Bonds, A-Rod, Terrell Owens, Andy Reid, etc. threads tend to get the most comments, but the current front page also has on it posts about a charity football match in LA, an individual chronicling the lowest reaches of football in England, how the Colts defense was built, marathoning through pregnancy, etc. The signal to noise ratio may not be optimal, but it's a lot better than on the internets at large and the commenting here is still leaps and bounds above that elsewhere (check out the user comments thread on ESPN each week for the story related to the new AP or BCS rankings sometime). Like anything on the internet, you have to tune out some crap to get to the good, but that's the breaks. There is one potentially bigger point worth discussing. We never had the discussion about rcade starting a new thread about Alex Rodriguez being a weasel two days after a perfectly serviceable thread about him opting out, so here is my (unsolicited and possibly factually off, but by no means malicious) cautionary word about it. That second thread, in my opinion, was unnecessary and maybe wouldn't have survived Pantheon review had it been posted by someone else; perfectly reasonably arguments could be made to the contrary -- see rcade's rationale for it in the thread itself for all to see. I would venture to guess based on the numbers thrown out in the RSS locker room thread that the sensationalist, tabloidy-type stories (look at the top story listed in that locker room thread -- Suzyn Waldman crying on air) get more external eyeballs than the pregnant marathoner-type stories, which potentially creates an incentive to link more of those stories, as more eyeballs = more ad revenue = more $ to maintain SportsFilter servers, etc. I'm not accusing rcade of posting in bad faith or with bad motivations, rather just pointing out that what's good for the site from a financial perspective or, for those not involved on the financial side of the site, from a perspective of wanting to start a "popular" (as judged by number of comments) thread may not be good for the site in terms of the quality of the links and the level of discourse here.

Ask SpoFi

From the mustachioed one's wikipedia page: Hernandez also revolutionized the position -- until umpires disallowed what he did -- by taking pickoff throws while essentially squatting in foul territory so that he could make tags to his right more readily. (Positioning oneself in foul territory is now illegal, according to official baseball rules, which state that all defensive players except the catcher must be positioned in fair territory while the ball is pitched.)

Ask SpoFi

Ask SpoFi

Rule 4.03 of MLB Rules (emphasis added): When the ball is put in play at the start of, or during a game, all fielders other than the catcher shall be on fair territory. (a) The catcher shall station himself directly back of the plate. He may leave his position at any time to catch a pitch or make a play except that when the batter is being given an intentional base on balls, the catcher must stand with both feet within the lines of the catcher's box until the ball leaves the pitcher's hand. PENALTY: Balk. (b) The pitcher, while in the act of delivering the ball to the batter, shall take his legal position; (c) Except the pitcher and the catcher, any fielder may station himself anywhere in fair territory; (d) Except the batter, or a runner attempting to score, no offensive player shall cross the catcher's lines when the ball is in play.

Heisman

I think certain players with gaudy numbers get penalized in the voters'/analysts' minds for (a) playing inferior competition, and/or (b) playing in a system in which reasonably competent players will put up big numbers at certain positions. Someone like Colt Brennan of Hawaii fits into category (a), while the Texas Tech guys you mentioned fit into category (b). Whether and to what extent those factors should cut against candidates is a subject for debate, I suppose.

Editorializing on the Front Page

At least I'm not a fan of the . . . (snicker) Ottawa Senators. Seeing this just made me have to share something I read on wikipedia the other day that made me laugh out loud. So I was trying to find out the etymology of the term "bandwagon," which comes up a lot in the sports context but I knew had a meaning going back to a different context. In the entry for "Bandwagon Effect," under the subheading "Use in Sports" was the following (which is the entirety of the entry for that subsection):

In sports, bandwagon effect is a term for people who begin flocking to a team after they have achieved success. The Ottawa Senators are an NHL franchise in Eastern Ontario that became popular only following the mid-1990s decline of more traditional teams Toronto Maple Leafs and Montreal Canadiens. Citizens jump on the Senators bandwagon, including non-hockey fans, whenever the Sens win a playoff series. When the Senators fail to advance in the playoffs and then 'fans' jump off the bandwagon, and either return to their original teams or forget about hockey altogether.

Editorializing on the Front Page

What makes it early? There is nothing early about their exit unless you have expectations that they should go further. The relevant full text in the FPP was "Another Early Exit from the Playoffs." The only earlier exit would be getting swept. I guess I could see (and this is why above I suggested that more words or less ambiguous words is better) that early could be interpreted as early as in "earlier than expected," but I (from a totally non-partisan perspective -- I like/dislike the Yankees as much as any other non-Cardinals team) read it as early in terms of the stage of the playoffs in which they exited. As suggested above, the most factual and unambiguous way of rendering it would be something along the lines of "Yankees lose ALDS, 3 games to 1." (But even that could be read as charged -- one might also have "Indians win ALDS, 3 games to 1." Choices, choices.)

Editorializing on the Front Page

Man, I almost lawyered that statement about the 26 championships -- disclaimers about not feeling that way myself or endorsing that as a legitimate view, etc. (And I realize, TCS, that you weren't necessarily suggesting I endorse that view.) So allow me to clarify or expound a bit. I don't think it's "fair" to dump on the Yankees more than dumping on other teams. However, it is more likely for the Yankees to be dumped on, just like it's more likely for George Bush's personal life to be scrutinized and on a wider basis than it is for a mid-sized town's mayor's personal life to be scrutinized. I think it's just a fact of life, fair or not. And as such (and I'm not suggesting anyone has/had too think skin here), Yankees fans should have thick skin. It might not be fair, but it's reality. Having the most storied history, playing in one of the most storied stadiums, getting more national coverage than other teams, having a higher payroll and greater revenues -- all of these are factors or benefits to the Yankees and their fans that are a trade-off (again, in the way things are, if not the way things should be) for the fact that the Yankees are going to be more scrutinized, get more negative press, be subject to a greater outpouring of glee and schadenfreude when they lose, etc. Being a fan of the team (while not necessarily a volitional act, as many are born into it, I'm sure) is like being a free agent signing with the Yankees -- you know you're going to get certain prestige and benefits, but you know you're fodder for the back page of the broadsheet when things go wrong. Now it's a fair question to ask whether SportsFilter should be above the fray and different in being a place that is more "like things should be" than a reflection of "how things are" in the outside world of sports journalism and commentary. I tend to think it is better than sports commentary and fan message board fodder generally, while far from perfect. For me, it's like the internet as a whole. There's a lot of bad stuff out there and it's used for bad purposes, but, on the whole, the good far outweighs the bad and I just try to filter out that which is unsavory to me.

Editorializing on the Front Page

These days, the Yankees have hopeless pitching, get beat like a drum in the playoffs... Sounds like those all-hit, no-pitch Rangers playoff teams -- maybe that's why you're starting to like them. As to goddam's comments, I think those with TCS's again lend some valuable insight. I will say that, for better or worse, the Yankees will always invite more scrutiny and disparate treatment (such as an FPP when no other divisional series or series winner or loser gets one) because of their place as the most storied franchise in all of American sports. Is that fair? Probably not, but non-Yankees fans might think it's also not fair that the Yankees have won 26 championships. It's like the old adage about what they tell incoming freshmen during orientation at Harvard -- "Don't do anything criminal or criminally stupid. At other schools, it's maybe a story for the police blotter section of the school paper. At Harvard, it's front page of the Globe or the New York Times."

Editorializing on the Front Page

Thanks TCS for chiming in and providing your explanation and thoughts. Without commenting any further on the substance or merits of any side's argument, I will say I'm sorry to see you go. Who will I tweak about Jeter's defense? Who will expound on some arcane bit of Hall of Fame history or share some insights from some rare archival footage to which us mere mortals have no access? I hope you reconsider. Or at least come back under a third name. Or at least may pop over to the Campfire from time to time.

Editorializing on the Front Page

I think "another early exit" is factual -- it's an exit in the first round three years in a row. I do get a sense, with the Waldman post (which could have probably been included in the discussion from the day before instead of as a separate FPP), how there could be a perception of piling on, but that is going to be coming through the lens in many cases of fans who are taking this tough. Sports and teams are a very emotional issue for some. I think any post about the Yankees losing was going to be painful for some people, regardless of how factual or editorial it was. On a 1-10 factual to editorial scale (with 1 being "Yankees Lose to Indians 3 Games to 1" linking to the MLB/ESPN/wire story and 10 being "Yankees Chokers Choke Again, Going Down in Flames as America Rejoices that the Antichrist is Slain Yet Again"), I would put the FPP in question at a 3 -- solely because the more words you use, the more likely it is that someone will read something into them or read into them an intent that isn't there.

And now for something COMPLETELY DIFFERENT...

*Feature Request* - Blog recommendations.

Boston Dirt Dogs is awesome. Josh Beckett should be traded for having one bad outing! Get rid of this Papi guy, who had an o-fer last night! The Yankees are catching up! Super positive spin on all things Red Sox.

Link Dump

Link Dump

Wow, JJ, going through those links, how I missed Indoor League growing up I have no idea. That's just... it's awesome. Of particular greatness -- "That is a fluffer!" Apparently a skittles term in addition to a porn industry term.

Anyone else get spammed by ArmchairGM?

I didn't get spammed (my email address is not listed in my profile -- feel free to send me an email if you'd like it), but that sounds like a pretty awesome sports community!!!! It's, like, the ultimate.